


Shrapnel stars puncture brightly

by Sideral (dasing)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Explosions, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss of Limbs, Panic, Tragedy, Whump, Whumptober 2020, battlefield injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:28:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26795869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasing/pseuds/Sideral
Summary: "In the split second before the separatist general set their own tanks to explode, Anakin's attention was elsewhere, consumed by the destruction he rained upon droids near his position. Anakin wasn't ready for the explosion. But Obi-wan was.The last thing Anakin remembered, before his surroundings turned into a white-hot agony, was Obi-wan's arm stretched toward him, palm up, as he sent a Force Push so strong it tossed Anakin's body out of the blast ratio. It had knocked him out on impact. "
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Shrapnel stars puncture brightly

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this snippet inspired by Whumptober 2020 -combining the prompts: No 25.(Grief | Mourning Loved One) and No 19.(Disorientation | Blurred Vision | Ringing Ears).
> 
> Be warned-This is a death fic.

Amidst the battlefield, instants are everything. In the span of seconds, the tide of the war could turn, the game would change, the battle would be won. A good war general knew that implicitly- it was important to keep their attention secured in the present, but also ready and receptive to any critical and unexpected factor, and make their move accordingly. Anakin knew this well. But one cannot be prepared for everything. Not even a Jedi.

So, In the split second before the separatist general set their own tanks to explode, Anakin's attention was elsewhere, consumed by the destruction he rained upon droids near his position. Anakin wasn't ready for the explosion. But Obi-wan was. 

The last thing Anakin remembered, before his surroundings turned into a white-hot agony, was Obi-wan's arm stretched toward him, palm up, as he sent a Force Push so strong it tossed Anakin's body out of the blast ratio. It had knocked him out on impact. 

Or maybe it was the detonation blast- his mind failed to grasp at details.

All Anakin was aware in the moment was the ringing inside his skull, the heaviness in his chest. Something was prodding his chest, like fingers jabbing at his ribcage, incessantly; annoyed, he extended an arm and joined with his own fingers- his glove came away coated with a sticky substance. Blood? It must be. He must have got hit by something. Maybe some droid shrapnel. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt that much.

Anakin decided it didn't matter- because his mind had latched at another more demanding thought. Something wasn't right. He knew it- he felt the  _ wrongness _ deep inside his mind.  _ Obi-wan _ . Obi-wan was out there, possibly hurt. In pain.  _ He had to find Obi-wan.  _

Anakin struggled to get up, his limbs sluggish and uncoordinated. The motion left him hazy and breathless, but he managed it to keep upright.

He sucked in air, gathering strength, and stumbled forward, moving a foot in front of the other, staggering ahead as if pulled by an invisible rope.

His eyes stung, but he still could see how the landscape had changed. The ground was uneven beneath his feet; dark smoke lingered over the debris of tanks and broken droids parts, its plumbs twisting up to reach the sky.

He encountered so many clone troopers lying on the ground, the white armor smudged with dirt and dust and gore. He choked on the death emanating all over the valley.

The Force was suffocating him, distorted in echoes of carnage and despair. 

Anakin doesn't remember where his lightsaber is. He doesn't know if Ahsoka and the others had made it- She and Rex's squad were supposed to cover the base, on the other side of the mountain. He didn't know what he would do if she got hurt--  _ if she had died- _

Sparks of rage burned inside him, beneath his growing panic; he welcomed the familiarity. Between feeling anger or dampening fear, he knew what he would choose. His mind raged at the separatists for setting up a trap on them all. At Obi-wan, for deliberately putting himself at harm. At himself, for allowing this to happen. For not being next to Obi-wan when the explosion happened. For not protecting him. For not protecting his men. For losing focus and getting maimed himself. 

Weaving through the precarious terrain, he held these sparks as a fuel inside of him, propping him to move forward, as he followed the distress blazing in the Force. 

***

By the time he finally found Obi-wan, his inner fire had died and numbness had fully crawled over his body and mind.

Lunging forward, he reached the figure lying in the dirty, dropping like the cords holding him upright had snapped. Anakin kneeled in the mud next to Obi-wan's body. No noise came to his earshot. There was no sound at all- He couldn't even hear his own labored breath.

He couldn't pinpoint which moment the ringing had stopped echoing in his ears. 

It's like he is in another place, another planet.  _ Another reality. _

_ I'm dreaming _ , Anakin tells himself.  _ It must be a nightmare. This is not real. _

And yet, the fears drumming inside of him prevailed extremely real, more substantial than the hands shaking while they grabbed Obi-wan's shoulder, turning him from his side on his back. 

He couldn't look away from the broken and bleeding form of Obi-wan.

Anakin blinked slowly at the gashes at Obi-wan's face, at the dark blood seeping on Obi-wan's tunics. He perceived the punctured middle, with shrapnel still buried into the flesh. The torn limb at his left knee- where the leg should be, attached to the body. 

He couldn't feel a thing. His numb fingers barely managed to feel for a pulse in Obi-wan's throat. 

When Obi-wan gave out a choked gasp, Anakin almost felt like he could breathe again, until he saw the blood dribbling from Obi-wan's lips. 

_ Obi-wan! Obi-wan! I'm here, Master-I'm here. _

It took a while for Obi-wan to open up his eyes, and even more until they focused on Anakin's face. 

Anakin's own vision blurred, splotches of darkness growing in the edges, but he still watched his Master trying and failing to talk around the gore filling his mouth. 

Anakin's heart thundered in his chest, pumping icy panic and dread into his veins.

_ No! It's alright- Don't talk Master, try to conserve your strength-  _ Anakin said.

But maybe he didn't make a sound, maybe his lips were also too numb to work. 

_ Please, Master, hold on! Please- it can't be too late- _

Anakin held Obi-wan closer to him as if he could stop death itself to take his Master from his arms. He sensed the strangled racks against him, felt his own chest burning. 

_ No! Don't you dare, Obi-wan. _

_ Please- _

_ Not like this- _

Anakin held Obi-wan as the latter convulsed in agony- and so he felt when his Master gave his final breath. 

_ \--No-- _

His mind replayed, again and again, the last moment he saw Obi-wan before the detonation, his palm extended to him. 

_ Anakin! _ Obi-wan had yelled, worry evident in his face. 

It wasn't supposed to end like this. 

Obi-wan shouldn't have to die pointlessly in the mud, on a separatist planet. Obi-wan didn't deserve that. Anakin didn't deserve to watch his master suffer through that.

_ His master. _ The closest person he had to a father. The one who taught him how to hold a lightsaber. Who was his best friend. Always ready to help him. And he died from injuries he caught while trying to save Anakin. It was his fault. 

Anakin had failed to save him. 

(Was he waiting for Anakin to find him? To be held while he agonized and died?) 

\--

The anguish was too vast for Anakin to deal with. It rose inside him, filling him to the brim and spilling outside, and it kept pouring, everlasting. 

He was dissolving into it, turning into a pure cloud of pain, disconnected from his physical form.

\--

He sobbed into the cold body in his arms, for what it felt like hours- until a wave of exhaustion hit him, and he wobbled, almost falling over.

It was like his grief was an additional weight on his shoulders, far heavier than his body could lift with.

Anakin gently let go of his Master, setting him on the ground in front of him. Still, he kept holding Obi-wan's hand. Just like he did many times before, throughout his apprenticeship and knighthood when Obi-wan was injured and unconscious and Anakin kept vigil by his side. Just as Obi-wan had done for him, when Anakin was the one injured, ever since he was a child. 

Maybe he could pretend that Obi-wan was just sleeping. 

Anakin closed his eyes, just for a moment-and his head swam, too light, but also too heavy. The dizziness washed him away. His labored breathing lagged in his chest. 

Anakin gritted his teeth against the taste of blood in his mouth. He remembered the sting in his chest, still damp with blood. He remembered that some of the blood was his.

_ I'm shutting down _ , he realized.

It was just fitting, he thought, that he would die from similar wounds just as his Master. But the thought didn't give him the relief he so much wanted, so much needed. He only felt dismay . 

_ There's no escaping this. I'm sorry. Padme. Ahsoka. Mom. Obi-wan.  _

_ I'm so sorry. _

Cold oblivion inundated his awareness and Anakin knew no more.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!


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